Senator: Change rules, start trial

Graham says he wants to end delay on impeachment articles

WASHINGTON — Seeking to break a deadlock over President Donald Trump’s impeachment, a top Republican said Sunday that he will push a change in rules that would allow a Senate trial to move forward immediately if Democrats do not agree to its format this week.

It seemed uncertain how receptive Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., might be to an extraordinary rules change to bypass House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who is stalling Housepassed articles of impeachment against Trump in a bid to get new witnesses to testify.

McConnell has been clear he is aiming for Trump’s swift acquittal in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called Pelosi’s delay a “political stunt” and said she should move the articles along to the Senate so a trial can begin.

“If we don’t get the articles this week, then we need to take matters in our own hands and change the rules. Deem them to be delivered to the Senate,” he said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures.

in a chamber where Republicans hold a 53-47 edge. But such a move could ratchet up tensions in the already divided Congress. While senators have agreed on a 51-vote threshold to confirm judicial and administrative nominees, they have been wary of doing so on other legislative matters.

McConnell, at least for now, has said he is content to simply wait out Pelosi while the Senate moves on to other business.

Graham suggested that GOP patience is wearing thin over Pelosi’s delay. “My goal is to start this trial in the next coming days, not let Nancy Pelosi take over the Senate,” he said.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said on CNN’s State of the Union that it was up to Pelosi to decide when to release the articles, but “I don’t think it’s going to be indefinite.”

“The desire is to get a commitment from the Senate that they’re going to have a fair trial,” he said.

Senate Minority Leader

Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said on ABC’s This Week that Pelosi “has done a very good job here,” predicting that if she’d sent the articles in December, “McConnell could have well just voted for dismissal the day before or after Christmas.” Other senior Democratic officials have privately suggested the hold was worth the wait even if they don’t get a commitment from McConnell on witnesses, since the party has been able to spotlight what they view as a rigged Senate process.

“Now, in the last two weeks, where we haven’t had the articles, lots of new evidence that bolsters our case for witnesses and documents has come out,” Schumer said. “So, the bottom line is very simple. We need the truth, not a cover-up, not a sham, not to have some nationally televised mock trial where there’s no evidence.”

Schumer suggested it was a matter of time before the articles were transmitted, saying “when these articles come over, the focus will be on four Republican senators.” He was referring to Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine; Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; Mitt Romney, R-Utah; and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. And he implored them to join Democrats backing their bid for witnesses with firsthand knowledge, arguing that it’s not the same as voting to impeach Trump — just a vote to ensure a fair process.

“And I hope, pray and believe there’s a decent chance that four Republicans will join us,” he said.

Congressional Republicans plan to focus their criticism on the speaker this week to force her to transmit the articles, a strategy they highlighted Sunday.

“It’s now been almost three weeks and she hasn’t taken any action,” Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, told Fox News. “She’s let that progressive, socialist, Democratic mob walk her into a box canyon. She’s put a gun to her own head and she’s looking for Mitch McConnell to give her a way out, and he’s not going to do that.”

A top McConnell ally, former aide Josh Holmes, said Democrats have little to gain by dragging out the process. Most expect the Senate will ultimately vote to acquit the president and Trump will not be removed from office.

“This ends only one way, and that’s when she sends the papers over without any kind of preconditions,” Holmes said on Fox News Sunday. Information for this article was contributed by Hope Yen and Lisa Mascaro of The Associated Press and Rachael Bade of The Washington Post.